Adirondacks? For around a pool?

[Jim Fox]

What do you think of using Adirondacks around pools? Obviously they will have wet bodies in them from time to time, they'll set out day after day in the elements.

Then what material if so? Cypress? Or do you move up in to Brazilian Redwood or IP'E?

[Jack Vines]

FWIW, I like Adirondacks and have built several. They are comfortable and stable. The bad news is no wood is really suitable for use around a pool. I've tried teak and cypress. After a while, sunlight, moisture and chemical exposure raises the grain on any wood and it eventually becomes bleached, fuzzy and nasty. Save the wood for indoors. Outdoors, use canvas, aluminum, plastic.

thnx, jack vines

[John Keeton]

Why not use trex or some similar composite? The widest board in most plans is 5.5", which would work perfect. Haven't tried it, but want to!

[Jack Vines]

FWIW, composites are so dense, they absorb a lot of heat from the sun. Sit on an Adirondack made from Trex without a towel under your legs and you'll have grill marks.

thnx, jack vines

[Jim Becker]

Trex and similar also are too, umm...wiggly...for this kind of application. For around the pool, I'd probably use white oak for wood. Cypress is just fine...mine are built from it...but you want to have absolutely vertical (QS) grain on the seat slats and arm rests to avoid splintering.

[Rick Moyer]

Try this thread. PM or e-mail me if you have questions.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=76772&highlight=adirondack+chair

[Peter Quadarella]

I have teak lounge chairs by the pool for 4 years and they are like new, except for the color.

Teak is expensive though, so I would do cypress. I made a couple Jake's chairs (search on google for full plans) and they are great. Another possibility is several coats of oil based paint, which should hold up pretty good for a while (I did this and hated every minute of it, but some people don't mind painting).

[Dave Lehnert]

Here comes the cheap guy again. (that would be me) I used just construction grade pine to build Norms chairs and have kept them painted. They sat on a porch year round for around 10 years. they now sit out in a open yard for the last 2 or 3. They need a hose taken to them but are holding up better than expected. I made sure I sealed the end of the legs good.

[Gary Herrmann]

I made an umbrella table out of QSWO 3 years ago. Granted its not a chair, but wet people lean on it, drinks get spilled on it, it gets rained on, and last year strong winds grabbed the closed umbrella and dumped the table in the pool.

I refinish it with Cabot's Australian Timber Oil (blue borg) at the end of each pool season. I've seen a bit of movement in the top, but I'm the only one that has noticed it. It's outside all year round.

My wife wants a couple smaller tables, and I'll use QSWO again. She doesn't like adirondacks, or I'd make some of those too.

[George Bregar]

To the question of Adirondacks, sure. Best outdoor chair ever. Wood? Let me add western red cedar to the usual suspects already mentioned, but pine painted is also a classic and very durable.

[John Lucas]

I built a number of Adirondack chairs a few years ago. I used a "mahogany like" decking material called Merante. I found that my local lumber yard had a good supply and the price wasnt that bad. It worked a little difficultly but nothing you cant handle (splinters). It is important to use a sealer and re-seal once a year. The beautiful mah. color will last that way. Otherwise it can turn grey with the sun and water exposure.

Here, I am sitting in a Jakes chair and Maureen and I thought that it was a little large so we scaled it down using the cheap green plastic chair as a comfort guide. She sits on our scaled down version. With those templates in hand, it was easy to knock out 4 more. No, I dont have plans -- I tend not to use them. I prefer making a prototype.

http://www.woodshopdemos.com/adirk-1m.jpg

Here is the story: http://www.woodshopdemos.com/adirk-1.htm

[ken gibbs]

I made two Adrondack chairs out of Trex six years ago that I keep on a saltwater pier in Virginia. Trex is great because it cuts well and you can use you hand router on it to ease edges just like white pine. I used galvanized bolts and Gorilla Glue. After six years in a constant saltwater environment , the only sign of oxidation is a slight discoloration of the bolt heads. These chairs weigh about 2X the weight of traditional chairs made of treated wood. And if you coat the bolt heads with Gorilla Glue, you get no oxidation/discoloration at all.

[John Keeton]

Thanks Ken - that is the green light I was waiting on!! I appreciate your pioneering endeavors. The trex adirondacks are now on the "get it done this year" list! By chance, did you use templates? Woodcraft has a set of 1/4" hardboard templates that I have considered.

Edited with apologies to the OP - didn't mean to go off on a tangent, but am glad someone has done this with success.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

I put these around a pool
http://tinyurl.com/674qgh


They work great.

In the winter I leave 'em outside but I wrap 'em in poly tarps to protect 'em from the elements.

[J. Z. Guest]

I built mine using home center cedar, plugged the counterbored screw holes, and finished it with an outdoor, oil-based deck stain. (see Woodworking Projects Forum) I'm sure it'll last for years and years, and I'm also sure that Chicago winters will be much more harsh on it than a body wet with chlorine. ;)

Cedar is easier to find than Cypress, and not endangered like redwood, but is still rot & bug resistant.

[Jim Fox]

That's another thing Jeremy........it's gotta survive the harsh Michigan winters too, we get a lots of snow at my house.

[ken gibbs]

I used my DeWalt biscuit jointer to join pieces of leftover Trex to get enough wide stock & I used Gorilla Glue to bond the bisquits. Most of the Trex was left over from a new deck I built. I had an old template with drawings that I found on the net. Nothing different about using Trex excerpt for the weight & that worked out very well because you don't want chairs blowing off of your pier. They have been underwater in several tropical storms with no problems but I did tie them to the pier after the first stiorm.

[J. Z. Guest]

Well, I believe you're thinking too much about this. These chairs are really easy to build. No proper joinery is involved. Just use cedar or even something cheaper, finish it well, and don't worry about it. By the time they wear out, just pull out your templates and crank out another set.